CETL Events
Join us for teaching workshops and other events open to all University of Mississippi-affiliated faculty, staff, and students.
Workshops for all
Join us for workshops and events designed to assist instructors and instructional support staff at any level, teaching in any discipline or modality.
Our events are intended to foster a space where instructors and people who support instruction on campus can speak freely and comfortably about issues related to teaching. Because of this, all participants must register. No recordings of any kind, including AI assistants, are allowed without express permission from the CETL Senior Director.
If you are an individual with a disability and need accommodations, please contact Hanna Lee, 662-915-1391, cetl@olemiss.edu, or be sure to include your request when registering. We encourage you to submit your request at least two weeks in advance, if possible, since some accommodations require advance planning.
Fall 2025 Events
Who Are Our Students?
Date: Monday, August 18
Time: 2:00-3:00 pm
Location: Zoom (link will be sent in advance)
Presenter: Emily Pitts Donahoe
One of the cardinal rules of teaching is “know thy students.” So, who are the students at the University of Mississippi? In this session, we’ll take a deep dive into the demographics of our students here at UM, and at US colleges more generally, and then consider how this information can inform our teaching in the fall and beyond. This workshop is ideal for new faculty but appropriate for anyone who wants to learn more about the undergraduate population at the University of Mississippi.
The National Academies’ 2025 Report on STEM Education: Findings and Applications
Date: Wednesday, August 20
Time: 1:00-2:00 pm
Location: Zoom (link will be sent in advance)
Presenter: Josh Eyler in Collaboration with the Duff Center
In early 2025, the National Academies reported on findings from a years-long initiative to improve STEM education. Called “Transforming Undergraduate STEM Education: Supporting Equitable and Effective Teaching,” the report outlines a number of evidence-based steps that faculty and departments can take to enhance student learning. In this session, we will present the top-level recommendations from the report and facilitate a discussion about how to implement these strategies in the classroom.
Faculty Panel: Ideas for Introducing Your Syllabus
Date: Wednesday, August 20
Time: 2:00-3:00 pm
Location: Zoom (link will be sent in advance)
Moderator: Liz Norell
Panelists: Laura McLellan (biology), Kate Kellum (psychology), Jackie DiBiasie-Sammons (classics), Candies Winfun-Cook (teacher education)
Spending the first day of class marching through the syllabus doesn’t exactly set the stage for an engaged classroom environment, but the information in the syllabus is important. Given that, what do we do instead? In this panel discussion, we’ll hear from several instructors about how they introduce the syllabus at the start of a new semester. Attendees will leave with multiple examples of how to engage students in a more interactive review of the syllabus that builds community and sets the tone for an engaged classroom environment.
Teaching in the Current Moment: Academic Freedom and the Classroom
Date: Wednesday, September 3
Time: 12:00-1:00 pm
Location: Johnson Commons East Ballroom
Presenter: Josh Eyler
In this session, CETL will facilitate a community conversation in which we—as a group—explore and discuss statements (included in the Provost’s recent guidance on HB 1193) that define the concept of academic freedom and its application to our classrooms. The primary goal for the session is for attendees to identify your own scope of concern as it relates to the courses you are teaching, with a particular eye toward questions you have about teaching most effectively at this moment in time. We plan to share some of the most pertinent questions with the university’s senior-level administrators and use them to inform CETL’s own efforts in the coming months. Come to voice your concerns and to dialogue with colleagues about ongoing challenges.
Advanced registration has passed
Large Courses 101: Active Learning
Date: Wednesday, September 17
Time: 12:00-1:00 pm
Location: Johnson Commons East Ballroom
Presenters: Emily Pitts Donahoe and Amitesh Singh
We have years of research demonstrating the benefits of active learning for students. But it can be extra difficult to implement within the constraints of a large course. How can I ask 100 students to participate in a discussion? What free polling software can accommodate that many people? How do I facilitate group activities when the chairs don’t move? Moving beyond “think-pair-share,” this session will suggest a range of practical strategies and tools that can help you get students participating effectively in even the largest of classes.
Register by September 10 to ensure space and lunch.
When and Why Do Students Read for Class?
Date: Wednesday, October 1
Time: 12:00-1:00 pm
Location: Johnson Commons East Ballroom
Presenter: Liz Norell + invited undergraduate students
Drawing from survey data and focus group findings from a spring 2025 UM research project, this workshop will share the biggest reasons students say they choose to skip the readings for their undergraduate courses. We’ll then share strategies on how to make the goals of course readings more transparent and meaningful for students, with plenty of time for Q&A. Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of students’ perspectives on course readings and ideas for how to frame the importance of the readings so students can engage with course materials more effectively.
Register by September 24 to ensure space and lunch.
Understanding Mental Health from a Learning Perspective
Date: Wednesday, October 15
Time: 12:00-1:00 pm
Location: Johnson Commons East Ballroom
Presenter: Liz Norell
We hear plenty of alarms about students’ mental health challenges, with professors often feeling like they must become therapists and coaches in addition to instructors. In this workshop, we’ll talk about how mental health impacts our students’ abilities to engage in our classes and absorb class material/readings. Without requiring instructors to take on the emotional labor of managing students’ mental health, we’ll discuss things instructors can do to improve student learning by examining and reframing our pedagogical choices. Attendees will leave with ideas on how to craft their class sessions to improve student attention, engagement, and learning.
Register by October 8 to ensure space and lunch.
Real Talk about Teaching: Normalizing Educators’ Setbacks, Struggles, and Snafus, with guest speaker Dr. Jessamyn Neuhaus
Date: Wednesday, October 22
Time: 12:00-1:00 pm
Location: Johnson Commons East Ballroom
Presenter: Jessamyn Neuhaus, Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence and Professor of Education at Syracuse University
Look, up the lectern! It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no, it’s Super Professor! Super Professor is the charismatic guy in a tweed jacket who appears onscreen whenever a film or TV show depicts a college educator at work. Super Professor usually fulfills gendered, racialized, and other stereotypes about academic expertise, and his lectures are so entertaining that students effortlessly learn just by sitting there in the lecture hall. Super Professor never fumbles, fails, or fouls up because he’s perfected the art and science of teaching. But in real life real-world classrooms, teaching is never a perfectible undertaking. Every educator, from their first class to their last, is always learning how to help facilitate learning, and learning by definition always includes making some errors and missteps, getting feedback, correcting mistakes, and trying again. Moreover, educators and their students are human beings and it’s just a fact that people will sometimes mess up, no matter how well we plan a class or how expertly we facilitate the learning environment.
In this talk, I examine the myths and misconceptions that contribute to the popular and the scholarly discourse depicting teaching as a perfectible activity. I show why we urgently need to normalize the ongoing challenges of effective teaching, including the ways that things can routinely go wrong in the college classroom. While evidence-based course design and teaching practices can reduce the odds of snafus, in the context of inequities, disconnection, distrust, failure, and fear in higher education, struggles and setbacks are “situation normal” for teaching and learning. I argue that one specific, proven way we can normalize mistakes as both individuals as well as institutions is by talking more about teaching. Building and strengthening our pedagogical communities of practice, including improving and diversifying our methods for evaluating teaching efficacy, is a sure-fire way to begin normalizing educators’ setbacks, struggles, and snafus.
Register by October 15 to ensure space and lunch.
Large Courses 101: Building Community
Date: Wednesday, October 29
Time: 12:00-1:00 pm
Location: Johnson Commons East Ballroom
Presenters: Emily Pitts Donahoe and Brian Wesley Harrington
Students often feel isolated in large courses, disconnected from their peers and their instructor. And they aren’t the only ones: instructors often wish they could get to know their students better as well. Research tells us that relationships are an important foundation of a successful learning experience, but building community in big classes can be challenging. From learning students’ names to facilitating group work, this session will suggest a range of practical strategies for making connections with and among students in large courses.
Register by October 22 to ensure space and lunch.
Engaging Students through Reacting to the Past: Active Learning in the College Classroom
Date: Thursday, November 6
Time: 12:00-1:00 pm
Location: Library 103
Presenter: Jackie Dibiasie-Sammons, Associate Professor of Classics
Are you looking for powerful ways to engage students, deepen critical thinking, and foster communication skills? In this workshop, Dr. DiBiasie-Sammons will introduce participants to Reacting to the Past (RTTP), an immersive, role-playing pedagogy that pushes students out of their comfort zones and into the shoes (or sandals!) of historical figures. Students debate, scheme, strategize, and lead their way through pivotal moments in history.
This interactive session will cover the fundamentals of Reacting to the Past including its pedagogical goals, classroom structure, and implementation strategies. Dr. DiBiasie-Sammons will also share survey data on its self-reported effectiveness in her own classes.
But we won’t just talk about RTTP — participants will experience a short gameplay session and explore how Reacting can be adapted across a wide range of disciplines. Whether your field is science, math, history, or the arts, there’s a game for you.
Come ready to play, reflect, and reimagine what learning can look like.
Register by October 30.
Faculty Reading Group—The Opposite of Cheating: Teaching for Integrity in the Age of AI
Dates and times: Coming soon!
Location: Zoom
Presenters: Josh Eyler, Liz Norell, and Emily Pitts Donahoe
Each fall, CETL hosts a faculty book club to bring instructors across campus together to read and learn together. This fall, we’ll be reading Tricia Bertram Gallant and David A. Rettinger’s book The Opposite of Cheating: Teaching for Integrity in the Age of AI. Sessions will be held via Zoom on three Fridays during the fall semester. Our discussions will provide an opportunity to discuss themes of the book with colleagues across the UM faculty community.
Learn more about the Faculty Reading Group, and the Fall 2025 title, here. Registration link coming soon.
Fundamentals of Teaching: A Learning Community for Graduate TAs and Instructors
Dates and times: Mondays, 2:00-3:00 pm, September 8, October 6, November 3, and December 1, plus optional coffee hours
Location: Library 106D and Student Union 326
Presenters: Emily Pitts Donahoe and CETL Graduate Teaching Fellows
Want some extra support while teaching/TAing or preparing to teach as a graduate student? Join the Fundamentals of Teaching Learning Community to hone your teaching practice, build community with other graduate teachers, and get access to CETL resources and expertise for the entire term. We’ll meet regularly to talk about setting the tone for your course or section, planning effective lessons, grading and assessment, and student feedback. We’ll also connect with one another during regular coffee hours to reflect, troubleshoot, share resources, and provide real-time teaching support.
Light refreshment will be provided for in-person meetings. Registration deadline is Monday, September 1.
Graduate Reading Group—Teaching Matters: A Guide for Graduate Students
Dates and times: Fridays, 12:00-1:00 pm, September 19, October 17, and November 7
Location: Hill Hall 117
Presenters: Emily Pitts Donahoe and CETL Graduate Teaching Fellows
This year, the Graduate Reading Group will tackle the book Teaching Matters: A Guide for Graduate Students by Aeron Haynie and Stephanie Spong. Registered graduate students will receive a paperback copy of the book, and pizza will be provided for lunch. Join us to learn more about college teaching and connect with fellow graduate TAs, instructors, and aspiring educators.
Learn more about the Graduate Reading Group, and the Fall 2025 title, here.
Registration is limited, so please register only if you can commit to attending all three in-person meetings. Registration deadline is Monday, September 1 or when all seats are filled.
Pedagogy in Practice: A Course Design Summit with Dr. Justin Shaffer
Dates: Thursday, August 14 and Friday, August 15
Kick off the new school year with a collaborative workshop for STEM faculty focused on research-informed teaching and intentional course design! Dr. Shaffer will be leading workshops aimed to equip University of Mississippi faculty to provide undergraduate students with the best educational and classroom experience possible.
Back to School: AI Edition (Academic Innovations Group)
Date: Friday, August 15
Time: 12:00-1:00 pm
Location: Zoom
Presenters: Marc Watkins and Robert Cummings
What are the latest advancements in generative AI technology? Which of your applications have adopted AI without asking you? What are the most current strategies to teach with AI in the classroom? Join AIG staff leaders to discuss recommendations and the latest updates to the AI landscape.
How to Grapple with the AI Already on Your Campus (Academic Innovations Group)
Date: Friday, September 19
Time: 12:00-1:00 pm
Location: Zoom
Presenters: Marc Watkins and Robert Cummings
In July of 2025, in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Marc Watkins published practical advice for all faculty on how to identify and respond to a growing problem: AI creep. Almost daily, the commercial and higher education softwares you use are introducing AI without your consent. In this session, Marc will provide thoughts on how to respond. In addition, Robert Cummings will provide updates on UM’s AI Policy Board discussions.
Strategies for Addressing AI in Large Lecture Courses: A Panel Discussion (Academic Innovations Group)
Date: Friday, October 3
Time: 12:00-1:00 pm
Location: Zoom
Many faculty are responding to generative AI by moving more and more learning activities into the classroom. Readings, writing assignments, and other activities that were once considered “homework” are now often classwork. But what do you do if you have a large class? This panel of UM educators will highlight some local responses to teaching large classes in a world with generative AI.
Faculty AI Guides: What We've Learned So Far (Academic Innovations Group)
Date: Friday, November 7
Time: 12:00-1:00 pm
Location: Zoom
In fall of 2025, AIG and CETL introduced a new program: faculty AI guides. Faculty volunteered to assist their colleagues in addressing AI. In this session, a select number of Faculty AI Guides will discuss what they have learned in helping with their colleagues address the impact of generative AI on their teaching and their research.